Delve 1: A ball, interrupted

2026-07-14

• Season: Summer
• Party:
  • Johnny as Ogden
  • Erin as Magda
  • Rio as Arturo
  • Nick as Grom
  • Brenna as Garvisso
• Mission: Rescue or find out about the missing villagers last seen near Poet’s Pond.

Travelogue

Day 1

1. Starting in Carda: Walk along the River Shimmer, up the road, past Castle Dragonclaw and Hangman’s Hall.
2. Merchant Penny Swamps sells the party bait, tackle, and illegal lures.
3. Rest outside of the Abbey of St. Woewarble in the Blisterlands.

Day 2

1. Walk west to Poet’s Pond.
2. A village where the residents are returning after having been gone a decade, emerging from glass sarcophaguses.
3. A night spent at a villager’s home.

Day 3

1. Walk west to Poet’s Pond.
2. Scene of death and destruction, upturned earth, claims of a giant worm attack. Red Warlocks distribute pamphlets advertising resurrection services.
3. Arrival at Poet’s Pond. After a briefing from the encamped Regulators, the party enters the caverns.
4. Discoveries:
   • Fly-human hybrids
   • A greenish glowing goop
   • An underground river
   • Statue with a hexagonal emerald on the other side of a waterfall
   • Gang of frog people
5. Descent down a trap door to the Coral Palace.
6. After interrupting a dance party of coral people, the meddlers ransack a bedroom and start a fight. Arturo is forced to flee, seeking help from the frog people.
7. The frog people are set against the coral people, saving the rest of the party.
8. The party escapes and returns to Carda.

Goods Got

• Light Gem
• Ring of water-breathing
• 1 heretical painting

Arturo’s Account

Hello Diary,

It’s me again, had another crazy couple of days. Rumor reached my well-trained ears that some folks had gone missing up by Poet’s Pond and a coven of Moon Witches had been named suspectio primo. I hooked up with some fellow meddlers in Carda and we headed out.

There was Ogden the Mariner, Garvisso the Bookworm, Grom the Reaver, and Magda the Green Witch. Grom, Magda, and I all served together previously so they are more familiar to me.

We travelled first by river to Castle Dragonclaw from Carda, then headed north along the road until we reached the Blisterlands. We passed by a merc fort and a haunted graveyard along the way, never a dull moment when you’re in Bastica! Once we hit the desert, we turned west and made our way to the pond. We tumbled past a village that had been abandoned for upwards of a decade and its people were just returning. Apparently, Diary, they had been hibernating in glass sarcophagi all this time. The Meddlers will have to return and poke around this a bit more I would think.

The caves near the pond were guarded by Regulators (ACAB dear diary, ACAB4LYFE) who were of absolutely no help in action or word. We picked a cave and began exploring, looking for any signs of the missing people. We found fly-guys and green caustic goo that was sticky to the touch. There was a mechanism near the door with three hex boltindentations that obviously led to treasure or secrets.

We found two, but they were unobtainable as they were. One was beyond reach across a chasm of water and shadow and the other resides with a Frog person and his retinue I was unable to pilfer effectively. We had no choice but to go deeper into the delve.

Grom was caught in the snare of a magical symphony and took to dancing literally like a man possessed. I was able to free his feet from the devilish beat but at the expense of drawing the ire of the coral fey in the band. We ran upstairs and attempted to defend ourselves and all was going well until it suddenly wasn’t. Luckily the Frog person and his allies came to our aide at great projected expense.

Our time in the dungeon grew short and we made haste back to Carda with a heretical painting and some inkling of the fate of the kidnapped, forced to dig a tunnel in the sun-forsaken depths. I must prepare for a return visit as soon as I have recovered from this past ordeal. Perhaps I will inquire to my current associates once more soon.